NAACP Aids Awareness

Founded in 2001 and observed every Feb. 7, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day's (NBHAAD) aim is to increase participation and support for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment among African Americans through a national community mobilization effort.The NAACP continues to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic because of the disease’s alarming disproportionate impact on the African American community. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, while African Americans are only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 49 percent of new AIDS cases. Seventy-two African Americans are infected with HIV every day. The vast majority do not know they are infected. Further, AIDS is the number one cause of death amongst Black women between the ages of 25 and 34 as well as of Black men between 35 and 44. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reports the rate of AIDS diagnoses for black adults and adolescents in 2005 was 10 times the rate for whites and nearly 3 times the rate for Hispanics. “Blacks are also less likely to be screened for HIV, more likely to become infected, less likely to get treatment and more likely to die from AIDS. All that must change,” said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond. “Black America must eliminate the homophobia from our culture that is perhaps the single greatest barrier to our ability to talk about AIDS. Black America cannot expect others to come to our aid until we commit to help ourselves. Many will continue to perish unless we commit to mobilize into a unified and mighty voice to transform this tragedy.”

HIV Counseling & Testing

California State University of Bakersfield9001 Stockdale Hwy.Bakersfield, CA 93311661-664-2394